Essex County herald. [volume] (Guildhall, Vt.) 1873-1964, 1887-04-29

stamp on everything ubiquitous. and would
certainly rather take their testimony in ra
gard 70 such societies than the testimony ~
those who, having been sworn in as members
by their assault upon the society confess than,
selves perlurers One of these secret societies
gave for the relief Of the sick in 1872. In tbis
country, Sl,4yO,Sf4 Some Of these societies
have poured very haven of sun
shine and benediciion into the bom.
Of suffering Several Of them ara founded
on fidelity to good citizenship and the Bible
] have never taken one OF their degrees
They might give me the grip a thousand
times, and | would not recognize it. | am
ignorant Of their pass words, and | must
Judge entirely from the outside But
Christ has given us rule by
which we may judge not only all individuals,
but societies, secret and open. "By their
fruits ye shall know them Bad societies
MAKE PAD men Good socIeues make good
men. A bad man will not stay in a good So
ciety. A good man will not stay in bad So
ciety. Then try all secret societies by two or
three rules
Test the first; Their influence on home, II
you have home. That wife soon loses her
Influence over her husband who nervously
and foolishly looks upon all evening absence
as an assault on domesticity. How are the
great enterprises OF reform, and art, and lit
| erature, and beneficencea and public veal to be
world bounded on one side by his front door
| step, and on the other side by his back win
dow, knowing nothing higher than his own
attic, or lower than his own cellarl That
wife who becomes jealous OF her husbands
attention to art, or literature or religion, or
charity is breaking her own sceptre of con-
jugal power l know an instance where a
wife thought that her husband was
giving too many nights to Chris
tian SERVICE to charitable service, TO
prayer-meetings, and to religious convoca-
ton. She Systematically decoyed him away
until now he attends no church, waits upon
no charitable institution, and is on q rapid
way to destruction, his morals gone, his
money gone, and l fear his soul gone. Let
any Christian wife rejoice when her husband
conSecrates evenings to the service of human
ity, and OF God, or charity, or art, or any
thing elevating
| But let no man sacrifice home life to secret
society life, as many do. can point out to
you a great many names of men who are
| guilty of this sacrilege They are as genial
as angels at the society room, and as
ugly as sin at home. They are generous on
all subjects of wine suppers, yachts and
fast horses, but they are stngy about the
wives dresses and the children's shoes. That
man has made that which might be health
full influence, a usurper Of his affections, and
! he has married it, and he is guilty of moral
olgamy. Under this process the wife, what
ever her features becomes uninteresting
and homely. He becomes critical of
her, does not like the dress, does
| not like the way she arranges
her hair, is amazed that he ever was so I'M
romantic as to offer her hand and heart
There are secret societies where membership
always involves domestic shipwreck Tell
me that man has joined a certain kind, and
tell me nothing more about him for ten years,
and l will write his history if he be still alive
The man is a wine guzzler, his wife
! broken-hearted or prematurely old, his
fortune gone or reduced, and his
home q mere name in directory
Here are six secular nights in the week
What shall do with them r says yhe father
and the husband II will give four of these
nights to the Improvement and entertainment
| OF my family, either at home or in good
neighborhood l will devote one TO ciari
table institutions l will devote ons to my
lodge"
| congratulate you Here is a man who
says: "Out of the six secular nights Of the
week will devote five to lodges and clubs
and associations and one to the home, which
night will spend in scowling like March
squall, wishing | was out spending it as
have spent the other five nights" That mans
obituary is written, Not one out of 10000
that ever gets so far on the wrong road
ever stops Gradually his health will fail
through late hours, and through too much
slpelas and rheumatism of the heart The
doctor coming in will at glance see it is not
only present disease he must fight, but
years of fast living. The clergyman, for
the sake of the feelings of the
family, on the funeral day will only talk in
religious generalities The men who got his
yacht in the eternal rapids will not be at the
obsequies They have pressing engagements
that day. They will send flowers to the coffin,
will send their wives to utter words of sym
pathy, but they will have engagements else
where. They never come. Bring me mallet
and chisel, and will cut on the tombstone
that mans epitaph Blessed are the dead
who die in the Lord" "No," you say, THAT
would not be appropriate" "'Iet me die the
death of the righteous and let my last end be
like his" No. you say, that would not
he appropriate" Then give me the mallet
and the chisel and will cut an honest cpl
taph Here lies the victim of dissipating
associations"
Another test by which you can find whether
your secret society is right or wrong is the
effect it has upon your secular occupation. I
can understand how through such an nstitu-
ton man can reach commercial success l
know some men have formed their best bust
ness relations through such a channel If the
secret society has advantaged YOU in an hon.
orable calling it is good one. But
has your credit failed3 Are bargain makers
more anxious how they trust you with q bale
OF goods! Have the men whose name were
down in the commercial agency /, before
they entered the society, been going down
since in commercial standing? Then look out
You and every day know of commercial
establishments going to ruin through the
social excuses OF one or two members, their
fortune beaten to death with ball player's
bat, or cut amidships with the PROV Of the
regatta, or going down under the swift hoofs
or the fast horses, or drowned in the large po-
tations of Cognac or Monongahela. That Sc
cret society was the Loeb Earn. The business
was the Vile de Havre They struck and the
Vile de Havre went underl'
The third test by which you may know
whether the soiety to which you belong is
good or bad is this: What is it's effect on your
sense of moral and religious obligation? Now,
If should take the names of all the people in
this audience this morning and put them
on roll, and then | should lay that
roll back of this organ, and
hundred years from now some one should
take that roll and call it from A to u there
would not one of you answer. | say that any
society that makes me forget that fact is
bad society When | go to Chicago | am
somewhat perplexed at Buffalo, as | suppose
many travellers are, as to whether it is
better to take the Lake Shore route
or the Michigan Central, equally expeditions
and equally safe, getting to their destination
! at the same time. But suppose that | hear
that on one route the track is torn up, the
bridges are down and the switches are I'M
locked, it will not take me u great while to
decide which road to take Now, there are
two roads in the future-the Christian and
the nn-Christian the safe and the unsafe Any
institution OF any association that confuscs
my IDEAS in regard TO that fact is a bad insti-
| tuition and q bad association | had DrnVprS